The Environmental Research Institute Charlotteville (ERIC) proposes to implement a project called: “Marine protected area co-management capacity building in NE Tobago”.

Our mission is to “value and integrate diverse knowledge and experiences to manifest a mutually beneficial community of people and the environment for the responsible stewardship of North-East Tobago, from ridge to village to ocean”.

ERIC and stakeholders in NE Tobago have identified the need to increase the capacity of community based organisations in NE Tobago to monitor and eventually co-manage the marine resources in the area. This is critical since a large Marine Protected Area (MPA) is planned in NE Tobago, partly funded by the Global Environment Facility.

The beneficiaries of the project are community members who will be identified by our partner organisations: Speyside Eco Marine Park Rangers, North East Sea Turtles and the Parlatuvier Village Council, all of which have expressed their support for this project in writing. The wider communities are also benefitting from an increased information flow regarding marine resources and the planned MPA

The goal of the project is that Community Based Organisations (CBOs) in NE Tobago are meaningfully contributing to the co-management of their marine resources and the envisaged Marine Protected Area.
The project objectives are as follows:
• to conduct 96 community talks informing and update community members or
groups about the state of their marine resources and the future MPA;
• to make equipment & material, facilities, expertise and training available for conducting biodiversity data collection;
• to monitor the marine biological status within the future MPA over a period of five months and establish baseline and a preliminary data base.

The members of ERIC and especially the implementation team have the academic background and a sound track record regarding building capacity for CBOs, conducting training related to marine biological monitoring, working with CBOs in NE Tobago and are very familiar with the plans for the MPA.